The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Gutted

Luke 1:39-45

December 14, 2003

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

Can the past and the present co-exist? Can we keep doing things the old way and still be loyal to the new? Or does the past have to leave and make room for the present?

Our Scripture lesson this morning tells us the story of Elizabeth and Mary. It’s a happy story. Just reading it makes me want to smile. And it’s tempting to leave it there: a friendly, heart-warming story. But with Luke a closer look always pays off. With Luke there’s always something going on beneath the surface.

In this instance it’s literally beneath the surface. Elizabeth is an old woman, and the child she carries within her is literally the end of an old era, the end of the old way of doing things. Repent of your evil. Give your extra coat to someone who has none. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, do the right thing in life. It was the rule that had been followed since Moses and David and the prophets and as a way of life was perfectly serviceable. And yet….

Think of a house. My wife and I have been going to a lot of open-houses lately. Most of the houses we’ve seen are older homes but the owners have been painting, varnishing, fixing gutters. That sort of thing.

But once you get past the sparkly, cosmetic touches it’s still the same old house with 1930’s electric, 1950’s wall-paper, water damage on the ceiling and sagging floors. The improvements are good, they need to be done, but it’s all very much on the surface.

John the Baptist offers us a good way to live, nothing wrong with it, but it’s remodeling without tearing out the dry-rot, it’s sprucing up - but paint over the water-damage and don’t move the walls. Looking good, but only surface deep.

But other homes we’ve seen have had the floors replaced, the roof is new, the plumbing’s been updated: the house has been gutted to the studs and totally rebuilt. It’s the same house, but it’s brand new and much improved.

And that’s the difference between John and Jesus. Are we kind to those who hurt us, or are we genuinely saying “I forgive you for ruining the most important relationship in my life. How can we learn to value each other?” Are we dutifully, diligently and unfeelingly giving “our fair share” to support the church, or are we joyfully, generously, exuberantly giving to the ministry of God, spreading the good news of God’s love? Are we living lives bound by ethical rules of what is good and what is not, or are we living our lives explosively, bounding past the rules with huge strides of love, living without limits of peace and joy?

Have we done a little cosmetic remodeling, or have we let Jesus come in, gutting us to the studs and remaking us in his image? Are we clinging to the old era of rules and surface piety, or have we let it go, embracing the new era of radical love and acceptance in the name of Jesus Christ?

In the wombs of Mary and Elizabeth the new and the old come together. And what happens? What do you wish would happen?

Our culture is very comfortable with John. Who could blame us for preferring his way, especially here in the South. Getting along, being polite, hugging our enemy’s neck and saying “Oh, I’m so glad to see you, you’re looking great” when we run into them at the mall, all the time thinking “damn your eyes, I hate your guts.” It’s what we Southerners are known for and we do it very well.

But we know eventually that’s not very satisfying. It’s too constraining. The house looks good but it’s still the old house with bad electric, sagging floors, leaking roof. We forgive and don’t cheat and share with the poor but anger is still burning us up and lust is enflaming us and resentment over the way we were treated is giving us ulcers. Yeah, we can live with the old house, the old self, but it’s not very satisfying.

Christianity is scary – lots of pulling and ripping and plaster everywhere but in the end Jesus updates the wiring, rearranges the walls, replaces the roof, helping us live in love rather than fear, exuberance rather than miserliness, a life without boundaries instead of the narrow confines of social etiquette.

But the problem is we have to do one or the other. The past can’t co-exist with the present. We have to follow either John or Jesus, not both.

In this passage, and in other passages, our Gospel writer makes it clear John and Jesus can’t co-exist. The era John is representing is rapidly winding down and there is much rejoicing. A new era, represented by the young woman and the child she carries is about to begin.

This is what we are celebrating at Christmas: the beginning of a new era. And the old era did not stand in the way or obstruct. It rejoiced, it leaped for joy.

Every day, Jesus is offering us the chance to be new. We can follow John - being kind, putting a little money in the offering plate, forgiving and not hurting, being loyal to the old era, the old way. Nothing wrong with that. It’s good. But it’s cosmetic. It’s still the old us with new paint.

Or we can take Jesus seriously and be transformed, living joyfully and generously, not just forgiving but reconciling and improving relationships, not just tolerating other people’s differences but celebrating and growing with them, not accepting the limitations of our lives but bursting the boundaries to live free and abundant lives.

We can slap on a little paint, or we can let ourselves be gutted to the studs. One or the other, but not both.

My friends, this is the good news of Christmas. If the thin veneer of your piety is starting to crack, if you’re tired of constant anger and sorrow and sadness leaking into your life, if your moral flooring is sagging, then let this Christmas, and every day, be a time of new beginning. Let go of the old era, be gutted to the studs, and in Jesus Christ be made new.

May we all experience the good news of Christmas. Amen.